I was one of the writers asked by the Dallas Morning News to write a brief essay on "The Future of Texas Literature." The story ran in the DMN Aug. 21, 2011. Below is my essay.

 

The future of Texas literature is exciting and dangerous as chaotic times are. Exciting because there will be more Texas writers, books, publishers. Exciting because someone in Chillicothe can write a book that can be read by anyone who reads English anywhere in the world. Dangerous because electronic books make it possible for anyone who has computer skills, or the money to hire someone who does, can write and/or publish a book. Dangerous because in the plethora of books, some books may not find voice at the essential moment to salvage the writer’s dream or enlighten the body politic. 

Fiction, poetry, perhaps nonfiction will find new forms to examine and explain the incredible resurrection of antebellum Southern ideas:

A “mudsill” people of inferior quality, a wage-slave and debt-slave class to do the dirty and dangerous jobs to free the elegant elite to lead the nation to refinement and prosperity. 

The sovereignty of states to reject federal laws they oppose, the sovereignty of political parties to reject compromise as an instrument of government, the sovereignty of individuals to possess whatever deadly weapons they desire. 

The sovereignty of the federal government to examine the private lives of citizens and to decide which have equal rights to health care, to matrimony, and to sexual activity by mutually consenting adults.

Disclosure: The second point encompasses ideas that are the basis for a novel, Jade:The Law, scheduled for publication as an e-book in September and a print book in October. However, I do believe that will be the focus of literature in the coming decade and already this year there have been several nonfiction “Civil War” books addressing those issues. Fiction takes longer.